Aaron Rai wins PGA Title!

It is a story rooted in names such as Glenfarclas and Le Vaudreuil and Andalusia and even Kenya. Sponsors and towns and countries, none of them considered golf destinations but at one time they had to be for a kid named Aaron Rai.

He was, however, on a journey, challenging himself to be as good as he could be in this silly game called golf.

But Rai, now 31, is quick to praise the game not for its silliness but for the brilliant life lessons it teaches you. “Humility,” he told the crowd at Aronimink’s 18th hole.

Twilight was falling, a true feeling of summer was finally in the air, sultry humidity blanketing the crowd that wasn’t ready quite yet to go home. Not with such a brilliant championship performance lingering in the thick air.

“Golf is such an amazing game,” Rai said, a short time after he finished off an equally amazing accomplishment. With his 5-under 65 still making people shake their heads and clap their hands, Rai had finished the 108th PGA Championship at 9-under 271, three clear of his nearest competitors.

He became the first Englishman to win this coveted championship since 1919 and while he was being feted by the crowd and showered with praise back in the interview room by his competitors, Rai proved that he had learned the greatest lesson golf teaches.

Humility.

Quiet and gentle, he doesn’t even do social media, and that comfort you feel is the breath of fresh air that the Englishman provides. This journey he has been on, having turned professional when he was a teenager in 2012? It was suggested to him that people should know for how long he has grinded far from the spotlight on the PGA EuroPro Tour and the Challenge Tour, visiting so many countries and so many small stops.

But Rai simply nodded his head and refused to shine the spotlight on himself.

Oh, he agreed that “it definitely feels like a journey,” but there is massive respect for his peers and for the game that has been his life for 14 years already.

“Everyone playing in the field this week has a great journey to be able to share and I’m no exception to that.”

Fair enough, but Rai certainly traveled a road unlike so many others. But no matter where he played, he did the important thing – he got better. He also won and earned his way onto the DP World Tour, then onto the PGA Tour.

When the leaderboard resembled the traffic jam of the century through 54 holes – a leader at 6-under, five players at 4-under, four more at 3-under, and a whopping 12 at 2-under – a bevy of major championship winners (Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Smith, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, and Patrick Reed) probably garnered most of the predictors’ attention.

Fortunately, you still have to go out and knock that little white ball around hundreds of acres and that’s where the unheralded Rai shined. He was utterly brilliant when he had to be – at crunch time – and it starts with that second shot into the par-5 ninth hole.

“We hit 5-wood, I think it was 260 yards to the pin,” said Rai, who surely knew the importance of the moment. He had bogeyed the par-4 sixth and par-3 eighth to drop to 3-under, three off Matti Schmid’s lead.

He delivered splendidly, his shot coming to rest about 45-feet away. “The putt going good on the green for eagle was definitely a bonus,” said Rai, conceding that he would have been content with a two-putt birdie.

“Definitely got things moving in a better direction.”

Did it ever.

He turned to the back riding that momentum, shot a blistering 31 and pulled away from a massive logjam with such flawless play that his competitors couldn’t help but offer a round of applause.

He deserves it, no? For the wonderful triumph and for the wild ride his career has been on since he turned pro in 2012? Would this humble Englishman at least agree, begrudgingly perhaps, that this major win will shine the spotlight on him and the ride he’s been on?

“OK, yeah, it’s a really long journey to even get to compete at major championships at events like the PGA,” he said with a wide smile. “To stand here, it still hasn’t sunk in, for sure. Amazing journey.”

* * *

How good was Rai? So good that not even those who were closest to him were bemoaning their inability to win. Jon Rahm came closest, shooting 68 – 274 to tie for second with Alex Smalley, both of them three back.

The Spaniard did say he was frustrated by not getting a better read on the speed of the Aronimink greens, “but even so, what Aaron did today, catching him would have been difficult.”

Smalley’s share of second was earned thanks to a 33 on the back nine. He wound up shooting level-par 70, but having started the day with a two-shot lead, Smalley made things difficult for himself with a 37 on the front.

But there was a huge consolation to both Smalley and his playing competitor in the final pairing, Matti Schmid (69 – 275, T-4). With their finishes inside the top four they earn exemptions into next April’s Masters.

“Thrilled to be going to Augusta,” said Smalley, who got sidetracked with a double-bogey at the par-4 sixth and a bogey at the par-3 eighth. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, honestly, until I hit the green on 18 (and) saw where I was (on the big leaderboard).”

As for Schmid, who had the lead to himself for a stretch of holes until he suffered bogeys at Nos. 10 and 15, it was all about the winner.

“Aaron is a super hard-working guy, maybe the most hard-working guy on tour,” said Schmid.

* * *

It might go down in history as one of the zaniest T-4 finishes in PGA Championship history. That’s because Justin Thomas left Aronimink Saturday night “pretty sour,” having shot 2-over 72 to tumble into a share of 31st place, six off the lead.

“I was upset and bummed.”

In as wild a turnaround as you’ll see, Thomas returned Sunday, blitzed Aronimink in 5-under and wild as it seems he was giving his post-round interview next to large leaderboard that had him in second place, one off the lead.

Thomas knew it would be a long wait that he couldn’t just assume his 5-under might not somehow sneak into a playoff. And sure enough, it did take hours until it was Rai’s championship and Thomas wound up finishing in a share of fourth because both Jon Rahm (68) and Alex Smalley (70) both finished at 6-under 274.

* * *

Teeing off in the fourth pairing of the day, Kurt Kitayama equaled a PGA Championship record with just the second final-round 63 in history. Out in 5-under 30, Kitayama completed a bogey-free round with a birdie at the par-4 18th, matching the 63 Brad Faxon closed with at Riviera in 1995.

It completed a wild week for Kitayama, who opened 70-69 to stand at T-16. But a third-round 75, on a day when the field average was 70.00, knocked him way down the leaderboard, to T-64.

“It happens,” Kitayama said with a shrug. “I thought it played tough (Saturday afternoon). I got all the bad breaks (in Round 3) and all the good ones (in Round 4), so I guess it evens out.”

The 63 was financially rewarding, too, as Kitayama jumped 54 players on the leaderboard, going from T-64 to T-10, good for a $496,709 check.

* * *

Scottie Scheffler made just 14 birdies over four rounds at Aronimink and when he closed with 69 for 2-under 278, it left him in a share of 14th. It’s the first time he’s been outside the Top 10 in a major since the 2023 U.S. Open. He had been T-7 or better in the last six majors.

* * *

It was already a positive week for Ben Kern when he made the cut and was assured of being Low PGA of America Golf Professional in the 108th PGA Championship. But it got exponentially better Saturday evening when he saw his pairing for the final round.

“What a great person,” he said of Englishman Luke Donald. “I met him in 2023 at Oak Hill when I got in, had the honor of playing a few holes with him in a practice round. (So) when I saw that pairing come through, I’m like, ‘This is going to be a nice walk on Sunday at a major.’ ”

With a round of 2-over 72 for 290, indeed the General Manager at Hickory Hills GC in Grove City, Ohio, had a wonderful walk. Watching Donald shoot 69 – 287 made it even sweeter and to hear the support from his friends at Hickory Hills . . . well, Kern felt like he had raised the Wanamaker.

“Just makes it that much more special. Obviously, I’m (playing) for myself. It’s very special, and I’m happy that I get to do it, but to have my members and the support from Hickory Hills has just been awesome.

“It’s been so nice to have my whole club in my corner rooting for me.”

* * *

A statistic that should hit home with all you double-digit handicappers out there: For four days there are 416 three-putts at Aronimink. By the best players in the world, remember.

* * *

The great-grandson of Rodman Wanamaker, the American businessman who founded the PGA during his remarkable career, was in attendance and given a chance to see what a marvel the PGA Championship has become. “It’s amazing that it’s being held in Philadelphia, because I’m from Philadelphia,” said John Wanamaker, whose great-grandfather lived from 1863-1928.

“A sense of pride,” he said, when asked what it was like to stand next to the 29 ½ – inch high trophy that is named after his great-grandfather and presented to the winner. “My heart swells up. I have a strong sense of pride.”